In 2018, LBD/T revisited a solo series first developed by Artistic Director Lauren Baines in 2013 while in residency at the Milkbar Project Space in Oakland and performed in downtown San Jose as part of the SubZERO Festival. This new series expanded and transformed the live "dance painting" series into a group performance with new media elements.

An evening-length dance theatre piece incorporating modern dance and spoken word to address the ongoing struggle of women, minorities, and others to have a recognized, respected, and anticipated “seat at the table.”

​

Previews of select sections were offered on April 20, 2017 at Luna Dance Institute as part of their annual 25 Points of View and on May 7, 2017 at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center.

​

The full performance premiered on Saturday, June 3, 2017 at Theatre on San Pedro Square. 

ArtistEDGE dance company presents FRAMES

August 27, 2016

ArtistEDGE hosts its first full evening performance featuring intriguing modern dance works, live music, a silent auction for the company's upcoming season and reception. Entertaining and captivating. Choreography by Artistic Director, Jeannine Charles, Zann Aeck, Erwin Columbus, Mareva Favre, Monika Chock. Special Guest artists: Natasha Carlitz Dance Ensemble and the solo work of Lauren Baines.  

In 2013, Artistic Director Lauren Baines was asked by New Zealand artist Tiffany Singh to create a performance to activate her installation The Bells of Mindfulness at Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, CA.  The resulting site-specific performance ritual, An offering: for endings and beginnings, addressed the cyclical nature of life and the possibilities for simultaneous death and rebirth to aspects of our lives. 

​

Singh's The Bells of Mindfulness is a social practice artwork created to examine the role of sacred space in contemporary society.  "Drawing on the Buddhist tradition of using temple bells as an aid for mindfulness, she has suspended 1000 handmade and fairly traded metal bells and 1000 paper cranes attached to brightly colored ribbons from a persimmons tree in Montalvo’s Italianate Garden, creating a tranquil space for rest and reflection." - Montalvoarts.org 

​

After the performance, guests were invited to take a bell and bring it to a space they considered a sacred space, and then to submit an image of the bell in its new home and story about their sacred space. With these posts, Singh is creating an online tapestry charting the dissemination of the bells.

​

To learn more about Singh's work, please visit her website here or on Montalvo's website here

​

You can see a short documentary on Singh's installation including footage from the performance.

• Transcending the Picture Plane: The Subtleties of Hue, interdisciplinary work commissioned by the de Saisset Museum for its public program “Beyond 2-D: Portraits in Other Mediums,” de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara, CA.

In 2018, LBD/T revisited a solo series first developed by Artistic Director Lauren Baines in 2013 while in residency at the Milkbar Project Space in Oakland and performed in downtown San Jose as part of the SubZERO Festival. This new series expanded and transformed the live "dance painting" series into a group performance with new media elements.

In late summer 2016, Lauren Baines Dance/Theatre collaborated with the wonderful Bay Area artist Cellista (Freya Seeburger) to create choreography for and perform in a music video for Cellista's solo album Finding San Jose. The collaboration continued when the full choreography was presented publicly as part of Cellista's Finding San Jose in Japantown (San Jose) on May 18-20, 2017 at the Akiyama Wellness Center. The dance was choreographed to Messian's track from Quartet for the end of time, performed to Cellista playing the solo cello live.

Shawl Anderson Dance Center Residency & Showing

May - August, 2016

August 12-13 I presented a new work, Things I Should Have Said (part of new suite in development, words not spoken) at Shawl-Anderson's Artist in Residence Salon. The piece was developed during my residency time.

In 2012, Bay Area artist Ernest Jolly invited Artistic Director Lauren Baines to create a site-specific performance for his installation Re-imagine. The resulting solo, Reflection: A Sequence of Events, addressed ideas of reflection, contemplation, and internal struggle.

In 2013, Artistic Director Lauren Baines was asked by New Zealand artist Tiffany Singh to create a performance to activate her installation The Bells of Mindfulness at Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, CA.  The resulting site-specific performance ritual, An offering: for endings and beginnings, addressed the cyclical nature of life and the possibilities for simultaneous death and rebirth to aspects of our lives. 

​

Singh's The Bells of Mindfulness is a social practice artwork created to examine the role of sacred space in contemporary society.  "Drawing on the Buddhist tradition of using temple bells as an aid for mindfulness, she has suspended 1000 handmade and fairly traded metal bells and 1000 paper cranes attached to brightly colored ribbons from a persimmons tree in Montalvo’s Italianate Garden, creating a tranquil space for rest and reflection." - Montalvoarts.org 

​

After the performance, guests were invited to take a bell and bring it to a space they considered a sacred space, and then to submit an image of the bell in its new home and story about their sacred space. With these posts, Singh is creating an online tapestry charting the dissemination of the bells.

​

To learn more about Singh's work, please visit her website here or on Montalvo's website here

​

You can see a short documentary on Singh's installation including footage from the performance.

In summer 2017, Lauren Baines Dance/Theatre premiered an all-new trio created specifically for San Jose musicians ContainHer, for her album release party. Presented at the beautiful theatre at the Mexican Heritage Plaza, LBD/T performed to the live music of ContainHer and accompanying musicians. The dance, inspired by the song, is about the concept of a phoenix, transformative powers, and layers of self.

Anne & Mark's Art Party

September 24, 2016

I'm presenting solo at once both prologue and epilogue at Anne & Mark's Art Party at the San Jose Fairgrounds. So excited to be returning!

​

This is not an event to be missed!

​

Anne & Mark’s Art Party: An Occasional and Irrational San Jose Arts Fest

Some say it’s an “Art Exhibition” others say it’s a “Happening”.  It’s been described as, “Mad Max meets Moulin Rouge”,  “Burning Man meets Venice Biennale.” Some say, it’s better than… anything they’ve ever experienced…and we won’t argue with that.

​

This year's party takes inspiration from Alice in Wonderland.  Fall down the rabbit hole with us.

Effect|Affect

​​
The collaborative work of Lauren Baines and Matthew Johns, Effect|Affect is imagined as series of interactive performance installations featuring modern dance and real-time media manipulation (in the form of lighting, projection and audio technology) to create an immersive and responsive environment for performer and audience.

Exploring the interaction between bodies and technology, passive and trained responses versus conscious circuitry acting with agency, the relationship between performer and the simulated environment shifts over the course of the performance. Each performance develops as a duet between technology and performer as they become equal agents in altering the audio and visual landscape as dancer(s) and media artist respond to one another in a structured improvisation.

The first iteration of this series premiered in August 2013 in San Jose, CA at the ZERO1 Garage as part of ZERO1: The Art and Technology Network's Bring It! Series. Footage from the performance demonstration can be seen in the video at right.

We hope to continue work on this piece and the implications of a real-time dance-media duet in different venues, and with different levels of audience interactivity, in coming years.

• Topographical Study of Swarming Thoughts, Dance Brigade’s Harvest Showcase, Dance Mission Theatre, SF, CA.